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SFD Training DaysThere is a new Training Page on the SFD website, with details of upcoming training courses which might interest you. In the next few weeks there is a NODA-sponsored 'Tailormade Weekend' in Frome on June 19th/20th and a 'Practical Make-up Course', tutored by Sandra Huxtable, at Puriton Village Hall on Saturday July 3rd. Bookings now being taken.There is also news about the Original Playwriting Competition which is for writers from anywhere in the Southwest, and a new Masterclass on Pantomime from Ron Roberts.
And in case you haven't seen them yet, there are a good selection of
photos taken at the Cinderella Awards evening in May posted on the SFD
Cinderella Galleries and a link to Photobox which will enable you to
order any that you want hard copies of.
Have a look - www.somersetdrama.org.uk Cinderella AwardsA small but keen band of Players trundled along to the Westlands Centre in Yeovil for this years Cinderella Trophy Presentation night on 15th May. A lot of hard work and sweat and toil went into this years show, 'Aladdin' and on the night we were duly rewarded with some great awards. Top billing was Allan Prentice, who won the award for the Best Original Script. This was Allan's first effort at writing and it paid off when he scooped this top award. Another winner on the night, although he was present to bathe in his glory, was Benedict Lintott who won the award for Best Male Goodie, following his disturbingly camp portrayal of the Genie! Also nominated on the night were the following; Best director - Allan Prentice, Best Male Villain - Simon Passmore, Best Original Costume - Sarah Kingsford and Best Brokers Men - Jackie Evans and Oliver Lintott. Oliver was also successful in the category of 'Star of the Future'. Well done to all involved. Anyone wanting to organise a bus for next years extravaganza must come forward so that we can increase the numbers of people attending this event and up our profile!! The HollowWell done to all concerned with this show. It went down very well and despite the disjointed performance schedule it was extremely professionally put on and was well received. Congratulations to Sarah for bringing it all together so seamlessly - and we even made a small profit which is unusual for a Roadwater Spring Play!! Aladdin DVDThe D.V.D has arrived courtesy of Steve. Steve only had time to do one shoot and this was on the first night ( there is a bit of background noise unfortunately). However, people on stage can be heard quite clearly and although it's not the best D.V.D he has produced (his words, not mine) if you were in the show it is a lovely keepsake. I think he is asking about £6-00 so if you want a copy please let Allan Prentice know a.s.a.p. (Tel 01984 640294) AGM 2009 - 14th JulyThis years AGM passed off without any hitches. Sarah Kingsford was
elected onto the committee to replace Marilyn Rowe who opted to stand
down. Many thanks to Marilyn for her hard work, and congratulations to
Sarah. Since the AGM Nancy has been elected as our new rep for the
Village Trust Committee and Brenda has been elected to be Vice Chairman
of the Players Committee. At the AGM Dennis Evans and Gill White were made Honourary Life Members of the Players, as recognition for their many years of involvement with the Players both on and off the stage. Congratulations to both!! Spring Play 2010 – As usual we are looking for suggestions/directors for next years Spring Play. Please come forward asap if you are interested. Please contact Allan Prentice. Panto 2009 - 'Aladdin'Well this years panto was a roaring success. Well done to Allan and his team for putting on a great show. We had good sized audiences all week, and they were treated to the usual high standard of acting, singing and dancing, not to mention the superb Passmore special effects! We are still awaiting the adjudication of this show which has been held up for various reasons. As soon as it becomes available we will make sure those that need a copy will get one. Spring Play 2009 - 'Shakers' and 'Bouncers'As you'll be aware from the last couple of newsletters the Spring Play this year is in June - and it's two plays. Bouncers and Shakers are award winning plays from the Hull Truck Theatre Company and present slices of life in cocktail bars and nightclubs. The actors take on a range of parts in roles that are challenging. Patrick Daley is directing Bouncers, Bill Tindall is directing Shakers. Rehearsals are reaching a frenzied climax and both sets of actors are having
great fun. Skittles EveningThere was the usual good turnout for the annual skittles night, and crackshot Brenda Mandziej finally ended the Daley's domination of this event by winning the killer game! Thanks to all those involved with the organising of this event. Cinderella Trophy Awards Night
A group of us went to the Cinderella Awards on Saturday 16th May at
the Westlands Centre. Janet Grieve, beautifully accompanied by Mo
and with Jennifer, Brenda, Nick and Oliver delicately lobbing roses
in her direction in the graveyard, treated the 500 or so punters to
her uniquely off-tune version of "Some Enchanted Evening". It was
received in a most
satisfactory manner. It brought the house down, the host for the
evening commented afterwards.
Naturally our entry, the wonderfully different Dracula's Christmas,
broke new ground in terms of pantomime and there were, quite simply,
not enough categories for some of our eccentric and unusual
characters.
We did however receive a number of mentions in the category Stars of
the Future:
Oliver Lintott, Alice Knight and Jim Bassett,
Jenny Bradbury was nominated for Best Principal Boy ( or Macho Man).
Mo Best received a nomination for her music. But the highlight of our evening was Nick Wilson's nomination in the Best Animal category
and yes - woof woof - he won the trophy. A star of the evening as
well as the future.
So CONGRATULATIONS, NICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Best wishes one and all and remember we are already looking towards this year's panto. Dracula's ChristmasDracula’s Christmas was a huge success for the Players. Put on in the
second week of December, it played to good houses every night with the
usual sellouts on Friday and Saturday. Well done to all involved. It was
well received by the adjudicator and hopefully in due course it will
receive some of the recognition it deserved. Well done especially to
Katherine Kingsford for her imaginative original script, and of course
to Sarah Kingsford who did a fabulous job of direction despite her dodgy
hip! The adjudication is available for those that haven’t seen it yet –
contact Bill Tindall if this is the case, although we all felt it was
pretty uninformative and didn’t tell us much we didn’t know already!!. Gammer Gurton's Needle; May 21st to 24th
Rehearsals for this year’s Spring play are going very well. The standard
of performance is as high as ever although the cast have had to work
pretty hard on their accents! It will certainly be ready in time for
opening night. Many thanks to Patrick Daley who took on the part of the
Curate in spite of having a heavy work-load directing “The Owl and the
Pussy-Cat” at the Regal, with equal thanks to Richard Beavan who has
done a great job of “reading in” in Patrick’s absence. Geoff is
especially pleased with the very accomplished singing from Allan
Prentice, Ben Horrobin, Chris Marshall and Mickie Ritchie in her first
acting role with the Players.
Posters are out and tickets are on sale from the usual outlets, so don’t wait – book now!
See the 'Next Up' section for more information.
The Annual Cinderella Awards
The Cinderella Trophy Awards Presentation will take place at 7.30pm on
Saturday May 17th at the Westlands Sports & Social Club in Yeovil We have an initial allocation of 20 tickets although we could possibly have more if needed. The price, to include a buffet, is £9.00 for adults, £8.00 for SFD members and £7 for under-16’s. Priority will be given to members of the cast and crew but after that it’s first come, first served. At the time of writing we don’t know what nominations we have or whether we will be asked again to contribute to the cabaret. Last year, you may remember, we had nominations in 17 categories and won 5 major awards, including the Spotlight shield for the best village pantomime, and Oliver won a “Star of the Future” award. We seldom do quite that well but always have a good time whether we win or not. It is a long way to go but worth the effort. Last year we shared cars and petrol costs and that seemed to work well. If you want tickets please contact Mo Best on mobest@roadwater.freeserve.co.uk or on 01984 641175 as soon as possible as the closing date is May 2nd. Sleeping Beauty DVD's
We haven’t forgotten about these. A few people have them but Barbara has
not been well so they are not all finished. We hope to have them for you
soon. In the meantime we send Barbara our best wishes and hope she is
better soon.
The Annual Daley Skittles Competition
Our annual Skittles evening was a very enjoyable event. Numbers were
down a little on last year but competition was just as furious.
After a two-team match involving everyone and won by goodness knows which side, we played a game of “Killer” – individual players in a knockout competition. There were some admirable performances, not least by the ladies present, but in spite of a sterling, skilful and very sporting effort by Nancy and Chris Marshall, Patrick Daley won – Again!!! Don’t worry, Daley – there’ll be other years! Many thanks to Simon for organising the evening and to Mike Twine and his staff for the buffet. Sefton Parke
Following his move from the local area we have heard from der Schloss
Parke and it would appear that Sefton and Li have settled in well.
It
sounds an absolutely lovely place, straight out of a fairy tale.
Sarah Kingsford hosted a lovely farewell party for them and they enjoyed seeing so many of their friends. We presented Sefton with an engraved tankard as a keepsake from the Players and we gave Li a bunch of her favourite flowers. Alan made a memorable speech! It was sad to say goodbye but they are very happy where they are and no doubt we will see them again. Sefton’s Swan-song in England was Coward’s “Blithe Spirit” at the Regal with the Barnstormers which he directed. It was very good – congratulations to him and all the cast. Several of us went to see it and thoroughly enjoyed it. Costume Storage
For many years all our costumes and props have been stored in Sarah
Kingsford’s cellar; she has kept them in good order and has been extremely
tolerant of Players tramping up and down her cellar steps. We have
accumulated so much that the space is no longer big enough and Sarah also
needs the room for Katherine’s own production equipment.
Having found a suitable replacement store in an old stable building at Huish
Barton, and having negotiated a measly rent from the landlord (excluding
electricity!) we are now in the process 'doing up' the store. Some of the
required carpentry and rails have been installed, but there is still much
work to be done, in order for us to move the costumes to the new store from
Sarahs cellar. Anyone who can help on Sundays from 10am will be welcomed
with open arms!
I think this is an appropriate time and place to thank Sarah for letting us
use her house for so long. She has undoubtedly saved the Players a lot of
money and hassle. Other local groups are all experiencing problems with
storage and it is hoped that, if we can all get our costumes into accessible
stores, we will be able to borrow from each other, saving money and hours of
sewing.
AGM 2007
This was held on 24th July 2007 downstairs in the hall and was well attended
by the membership. There was only one change on the committee, with Nancy
Marshall replacing Jackie Evans as the treasurer. As a committee our thanks
go out to Jackie for her hard work, dedication and very tidy bookkeeping.
The usual refreshments were well received by the members at the table, and
without getting out of control they allowed the meeting to flow! One
discussion point at the AGM was subscription rates. These have been the same
for many years and it was felt it was time they were upped. Thus the motion
was passed that subs for adults increase to £5 per annum and for children
they should rise to £2. So far the subs have been paid well, but for those
of you behind with your installments there does become a time when
your supply of newsletters will dry up - don't say you weren't warned!!
Merry Wives of Windsor
A public service announcement from Sefton;
Despite the tragic weather the show was a success in that we made a small a mount of money, and those involved with the production enjoyed themselves. As usual there are things to be learnt from these shows and I can assure you they will be! Unfortunately the Phoebe Rees awards will not be graced with our presence since the adjudicator and the moderator both came to the last night which was a wash out!! Cinderella Trophy Awards 2007
A large group of players trouped off to the Westlands complex in Yeovil
on Saturday 12th May for this years Cinderella trophy evening hosted by
the Somerset Fellowship of Drama. It was a truly memorable evening for
all concerned and The Players came away with more awards than ever
before. Huge congratulations must go to Mo Best for her inspirational
work on 'William Tell', and the list of nominations and awards are a
testament to everyone's hard work. The list of awards was as follows:
Well done to all connected with the show. Special praise needs to be
heaped on Mo for her vision and hard work, and a special mention must go
to Bill Tindall for his award for Outstanding Performer of the Year - a
superb award.
'Merry Wives of Windsor' - Summer Tour 2007
Sefton's adaptation of this Shakespeare comedy will be our touring
production this year. It will run from 16th July to 21st July at several
'local' venues. Please contact Sefton on 01984 639030 if you want to be
involved in any way with this production. Rehearsals start on 8th May
2007 and dress rehearsal will be on 16th July at the Old Rectory,
Sampford Brett.
Sefton's adaptation sets the play in 1963, on the 5th June, the day that
the Profumo scandal hit the front pages. The production will aim to
invoke the historical authenticity of the period.
The venues are as follows:
The cast for this show will be as follows:
'It Runs in the Family'
The cast for this show was as follows:
Despite some major concerns a few weeks before this production, as
usual the Players have put on a show which they can be very proud
of. Apart from the odd dropped line here and there (understandable
with such a wordy script and complicated plot) the show was slick,
well acted and above all very funny. The sight of three ladies in
the back row with tears pouring down their faces and splitting their
sides was the highlight of the week for me. The whole cast can be
very proud of what they put on in this show and to them I send my
hearty congratulations and thanks for all their hard work. The whole
play could not have been such a success without all the helpers who
built sets, designed programmes, sold tickets etc etc, so thankyou
also to them.
We have now received the adjudication, and I'm pleased to say that
Hilary enjoyed the whole play and was very complimentary. I hope
that all those involved have now had a chance to read the critique.
If not then please contact Mo Best to get yourself a copy.
'William Tell'
This years panto was deemed a major success on all counts. Many
congratulations to Mo for her marvelous script and very patient directing.
We all had immense fun putting it on and have some great memories from it.
Geoff Best also deserves comment for his fantastic songs which as ever were
a joy to perform to very receptive audiences. We received a very good
adjudication for this show and look forward to the Cinderella awards later
in the year with baited breath.
I have some photos of this show which I will be posting to the galleries on
this site in due course.
Phoebe Rees Awards 2006
Congratulations to Jenny Warwick (Best Actress) and Lis Halliday (Best
Supporting Actress) who were rewarded for their splendid performances as
Viola and Maria in Twelfth Night. A small band of Roadwaterites attended the
evening at Bridgwater Rugby Club on 20th October and were there to see both
awards being received. Well done to all involved in this production.
Roadwater Players Logo
There has been much deliberation over the Players choice for a new logo, and
the final decision has been made. The final choice has been circulated to
the membership via the latest newsletter, and it will shortly be appearing
on this website, as soon as the logo is produced in the right format.
Here is a brief summary of how the winning logo was selected; The logo
selections circulated at the AGM this year elicited a variety of responses
and preferences. There was general agreement that the logo should attempt to
convey Roadwater's rural setting and the singular nature of it's set up.
Please bear in mind that any simple logo is never going to say everything
about Roadwater Players. As a committee we decided the logo should avoid
cliche, i.e. comic and tragic masks, spotlit actors, curtains and audience
heads. We also tried to include the motif of the village hall, a wisteria
plant. Many options were considered bearing in mind the need for the logo to
look good both in colour and black and white. Finally we decided to use a
lower case 'r' for Roadwater and after tweaking it managed to transform this
into a form of wisteria plant using colours of green and lavender. A copy of
this 'r' was then flipped so that the two 'r's enclose a form of spotlit
stage. Finally we kept the 'Roadwater Players' text out of the 'stage' so as
to keep it legible and simple. Please see your newsletter for the final
outcome and finally a version of it has appeared on this website. Hope you
like it!
Cinderella Trophy Awards 2006Thirteen of us traveled by minibus to Yeovil for this years Cinderella Awards night. Once again we were very successful with some Stars of the Future, two big awards and some other nominations. The awards we received were as follows; Stars of the Future: Izzy Yianni and Nancy Hesp Awards; Best Design on a Small Stage Best Original Costumes Other Nominations; Mo as Best Good Fairy Izzy Yianni as Best Animal Congratulations to all of the above and all who were involved with what was another very successful Panto from Roadwater. One Act Play Competition - A Rex for a Regina'A Rex for a Regina' is the play that Geoff entered into the Original One Act Play Competition. The first leg of the competition took place at the Warehouse Theatre in Ilminster on 25th February. We were up against plays from Taunton Thespians and St Gregory Players. On the night Geoff carried off the trophies for the most original script and the best production, whilst Phaedra Rush won the award for best actress. Following the victory and much celebration, we then went on to the Somerset Fellowship of Drama One Act Play competition, which again took place at Ilminster on 11th March. We faced stiffer competition from the same groups as the previous rounds, but despite a couple of actors being unavailable (and having to make do with a couple of misfits in their places!) we carried off the winnings again. Several trophies were won on the night and we received many complimentary comments. Having won this second round we went through to the next stage of the competition to represent Somerset, at the Princes Hall in Clevedon. The competition took place on 22nd April. We came up against some stiff competition, and this combined with a 2pm performance, some absentees from the original cast and a small wrinkly audience that looked like they had been hauled in off the seafront for the day meant we were struggling to compete. Some of the opposition was first class, most notably the eventual winners St Ursulas Players from Bristol. They put on a very smooth performance which left the audience physically drained of emotion - well worth seeing. We had a great if very long day, and learnt a great deal from it. Good luck to the winners in the following rounds. Here is a link to the Western Morning News article following our win at Ilminster: Roadwater Players Western Morning News Article Phoebe Rees Awards 2005
First up Mo Best won the award for 'Best Cameo' for her wonderful portrayal of Rose Mumford in 'Thicker Than Water'. This was a truly deserved award that recognised the fact that Rose still lives on in the village despite her many and varied knock backs! The other award won for 'Thicker Than Water' was that of 'Best Supporting Actor' which was deservedly presented to Patrick Daley for his brilliant portrayal of D.C. Dibble. Both awards were well deserved and our congratulations go out to them both. In total we received five other nominations for the following;
An extra mention should be made of two other members who did well at the awards whilst representing some of the 'opposition'. Jenny Thomas won the award for Best Female Youth for her portrayal of Lucy Lime in 'Eclipse' for Minehead Youth Theatre, and Charlotte Best was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Jackie in 'Hayfever' for the Taunton Thesbians. Congratulations must go to all involved; yet again Roadwater has been seen in a very strong light as a result of everyones hard work. Thanks to Allan and Janet for organising the trip to Bridgwater. There will be some pictures posted on here soon. SFD AGM at Roadwater - 17th September 2005Initial reports confirm that this was a very successful evening. The visitors were given a very warm welcome, buffet food was laid on and entertainment provided. Many thanks to the following for their efforts with the entertainment - Roadwater Youth, Sefton Parke, Jennifer Hand, Don Hadfield, Luke Moore, Mo Best & Simon Passmore. If I've missed anyone then please accept my apologies. Thanks to all those who helped set up and clear up. Open Air Production - 2nd July 2005 - UpdateA couple of weeks ago Allan and Ben together with Mary Lintott, handed over the proceeds from the open air production to Michelle Kerrigan who is the Community Fundraising Co-ordinator for the Childrens Hospice South West in this area. It was a lovely summers evening, and we presented her with a cheque for the large sum of £450. This was a marvellous effort, and we hope to repeat the Al Fresco production again in future years. Many thanks for everyones hard work.
Michelle Kerrigan (Childrens Hospice SW) receiving the cheque for £450 from Mary Lintott and Allan Prentice (Herr Chairman) Open Air Production - 2nd July 2005 - ReportThis production was a great success, with many varied acts on show. Prior to the event about 45 tickets had been sold, but the weather was good to us and the total number in attendance reached 100 on the night itself. The picnics on display were nearly as varied as the entertainment on the stage. A 'large' band was assembled for the evening. The usual 'Old Crotchets' combined their talents with 'The Luke Moore Trio' and the result was a superb spectrum of music! In terms of comedy, we were treated to the usual Tickle and Passmore sketches, Clive endeared himself to the ladies with his standup routine and Jennifer Hand recited some Pam Ayres. Musically, Mo Best had us all in stitches with a Victoria Wood song, Brenda Mandziej sang for us, Janet Grieve sang and Charlotte Best performed a rendition of 'Big Spender'. Other performers included Ben Horrobin, Tad Mandziej (trying to play music on a sheep) and our very successful youth players. A great time was had by all and in doing so we raised £450 for the Childrens Hospice SW - which was remarkable. Thanks to all who helped make it a success. Allan and Brenda for organising, Gill White for her expertise in managing the rush at the door, Jane Mattravers for selling the raffle tickets, Dave Walder for his technical efforts (superb as usual) and Bob & Mary Lintott for allowing us the use of their garden for the evening. Cinderella Awards 2005We all travelled to Yeovil on 21st May 2005 for the annual Cinderella Awards Ceremony. As usual we went there knowing that we had put on a good show for Panto at the OK Corral, but we werent expecting too much success at the awards! How wrong we were. in all we came away with 6 major awards. They were as follows;
A great evening was had by all, and congratulations must go to ALL involved in 'Panto at the OK Corral'. Another brilliant team effort from Roadwater!!! |
This
years annual awards ceremony was held this year on 21st October 2005 at Bridgwater Rugby Club. We sent a party to this function, and as usual the
Players fared very well.
